Thruster unit

ABSTRACT

This invention is a bow thruster for a ship and consists of a design enabling the movable components to be easily withdrawn for repair or replacement. A rotary pump and a rotary deflector each consisting of a rotor and a stator are each a slide fit in a corresponding vertical passage in a unitary housing which is a permanent fixture in the ship&#39;&#39;s hull, together with a cross passage joining the vertical passages at the top. Either the pump, or the deflector, or both, can be slid out of its vertical passage for maintenance and that can be done from above without having to go into dry dock.

[451 Sept. 17, 1974 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 16,979 9/1927 Netherlands................'.......... 115/16 Primary Examiner-Trygve M. Blix Assistant Examiner-Charles E. Frankfort [57] ABSTRACT This invention is a bow thruster for a ship and consists of a design enabling the movable components to be easily withdrawn for repair or replacement. A rotary pump and a rotary deflector each consisting of a rotor and a stator are each a slide fit in a corresponding vertical passage in a unitary housing which is a permanent fixture in the ships hull, together with a cross passage joining the vertical passages at the top. Either the pump, or the deflector, or both, can be slid out of its vertical passage for maintenance and that can be done from above without having to go into dry dock.

6 Claims, 1 Drawing Figure THRUSTER UNIT Inventor: Owen George Slade, Isle of Wight,

England Assignee: .1. Samuel White & Company Limited, Hampshire, England June 4, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 366,777

Foreign Application Priority Data June 5, 1972 Great Britain.................... 26080/72 U.S. 114/151, 115/16 1nt.B63h 25/46 Field of Search.................... 114/148, 151, 122; 115/12 R, 14, l6, l1, 18

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 9/1940 Ronning........................ 114/122 X United States Patent Slade 221 Filed:

III IIIIll!!!llllllllllllllilllll!rill! dlllllllllllll nil THRUSTER UNIT This invention relates to a thruster unit for a ship and one example is to provide a thruster unit which is particularly simple to disassemble for maintenance purposes. For example some previously known thruster units required access from the bottom of the hull for maintenance purposes which frequently necessitated using a dry dock but one object of the present invention is to enable the components that are likely to require maintenance to be removable from within the ship.

According to the present invention a thruster unit for a ship comprises a unitary housing defining a pair of side by side, open ended vertical passages with a transverse passage joining them near their respective upper ends and a pump assembly removably fitted into one vertical passage from its upper end and a deflector assembly fitted into the other vertical passage from its upper end.

This means that when building the thruster unit into a ship, the housing can be built into the hull possibly by welding or bolting to a plate fitted into an elongated hole in the bottom of the hull and then the pump assembly and the deflector assembly respectively can be simply lowered into the respective vertical passages and secured in position. Drives and lubricating means will be at the upper end and can simply be disconnected prior to withdrawal of the complete assembly upwards from the vertical passage if maintenance is necessary.

Preferably either or both the pump assembly and the deflector assembly comprise a rotor mounted for rotation in a stator which can be slide fitted in the corresponding vertical passage. This avoids the problem of having to be sealed between openings of the vertical passage and the assembly.

The pump or deflector or both can be fitted with curved guide plates forming a part of the stator so that water which is pumped from one vertical passage to the other through the transverse passage is turned simply through the two right angles without excessive losses.

The invention may be carried into practice in various ways and one embodiment will be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing, of which the single FIGURE is a horizontal section of a bow thruster unit for a barge embodying the invention.

The bow thruster unit consists essentially of three components, a pump assembly 11, a deflector assembly 12 and the housing assembly 13.

The housing assembly is carried on a thick steel plate 14 which fits into a corresponding elongated hole cut in the flat bottom 15 of the hull of the barge and welded into place The plate 14 has two circular holes or openings immediately below a pair of hollow cylindrical members 16 and 17 defining vertical passage which extend vertically side by side, being welded at their bottom edges at 18 to the openings in the plate 14. The members 16 and 17 are interconnected near their upper ends by a short transverse cylinder 19 welded around corresponding opposed openings in the sides of the passages. This housing assembly thus defines a pas sage for water to flow upwards in the member 16, horizontally through the passage 19, and downwards in the member 17.

The pump assembly 11 can be slid vertically into the member 16 and it comprises a rotor on a shaft 21 carrying a pump 22 and a stator sleeve 23 which is a slide fit at 24 in the lower end of the member 16. The assembly 11 includes a top plate 25 which is bolted around the top of the member 16 and includes lubricating and bearing arrangements and also three curved guide plates 26 and stiffenerplates 27 which form a part of the stator assembly welded around a tube 28 within which the shaft 21 rotates and which act to turn water pumped upwardly by the pump 22 simply through an angle of into the horizontal passage 19. The lower end of the member 16 is closed by a protective grill 29 but this is not in contact with the pump assembly 11.

The deflector assembly 12 is generally similar to the pump assembly 11 except that at the bottom end of its shaft 31 it carries a rotatable deflector ring 32 consisting of deflector plates which can discharge water flowing downwards in the member 17 to have a horizontal component of movement which is in any selected direction in the horizontal plane so that the thrust produced by the unit can be in a direction chosen by appropriate rotation of the shaft 31. It should be noted that the deflector 32 can slide with clearance within the bottom end of the member 17 and that the part 33 of the plate 14 which surrounds the deflector 32 is bevelled to define one side of the discharge passage.

Once the housing assembly l4, 16, 17 has been built into the bottom of the barge it would be a permanent fixture and will require no maintenance, whereas the components which have moving parts and which require lubrication namely the pump assembly 11 and the deflector assembly 12 can be slid vertically upwards out of the members 16, 17 into the hull of the ship at any time that maintenance is necessary.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A thruster unit for a ship which comprises: a unitary housing defining two vertical, open-ended cylindrical passages adapted to receive a pump assembly and a deflector assembly respectively and a transverse passage joining the two vertical passages near their respective upper ends; means for mounting said housing within the hull of said ship with the lower ends of said cylindrical passages open through the bottom of the ship; a pump assembly; means for removably fitting said pump assembly into one of the vertical passages from the upper end thereof, said pump assembly being adapted to pump water from the open lower end of the said one vertical passage through said transverse passage to the other of said vertical passages; a deflector assembly; means for removably fitting said deflector assembly into said other of the vertical passages from the upper end thereof, said deflector assembly being adapted to impart a horizontal component of motion in a selected direction to water emerging from the lower end of the said other vertical passage under the influence of the pump assembly, the pump assembly and the deflector assembly each including a stator adapted to be slidably fitted in the corresponding vertical passage and a rotor mounted for rotation in the stator, whereby the pump assembly and the deflector assembly can each be removed from their respective vertical passages independently of the other from the top of the housing.

2. A thruster unit according to claim 1, in which said housing hull mounting means includes a mounting plate integral with said housing, said plate being adapted to be fitted into a corresponding hole in the bottom of the hull of a ship.

3. A thruster unit according to claim 1, in which the stators of the pump assembly and of the deflector assembly each include curved guide plates for turning the flow of water between its respective vertical passage and the transverse passage without excessive energy losses.

4. A thruster unit for a ship which comprises: a mounting plate adapted to be fitted into a corresponding hole in the bottom of the hull of a ship; a unitary housing integral with the mounting plate, the housing defining two, side by side vertical cylindrical passages having open lower and upper ends and a transverse passage joining the two passages adjacent their upper ends; pump means removably fitted into one of the vertical passages so as to be removable through the upper end thereof; drive means for the pump means, said pump drive means being positioned above the upper end of said pump passage; deflector means removable fitted into the other of the vertical passages so as to be removable through the upper end thereof, and drive means for the deflector means, said deflector drive means being positioned above the upper end of said deflector passage, whereby water may be pumped by said pump means from the lower end of the said one passage through the transverse passage to the deflector means, the deflector means serving to impart to the water emerging therefrom a horizontal component of motion in a selected direction.

5. A thruster unit according to claim 4, in which the pump means comprises: a stator adapted to be slidably fitted in the said one vertical passage; curved guide plates for turning water between the said one vertical passage and the transverse passage without excessive losses; and a rotor mounted for rotation in the stator.

6. A thruster unit according to claim 4, in which the deflector means comprises: a stator adapted to be slidably fitted in the other said vertical passage; curved guide plates for turning water between the transverse passage and the other said vertical passage without excessive losses; and a rotor mounted for rotation in the stator. 

1. A thruster unit for a ship which comprises: a unitary housing defining two vertical, open-ended cylindrical passages adapted to receive a pump assembly and a deflector assembly respectively and a transverse passage joining the two vertical passages near their respective upper ends; means for mounting said housing within the hull of said ship with the lower ends of said cylindrical passages open through the bottom of the ship; a pump assembly; means for removably fitting said pump assembly into one of the vertical passages from the upper end thereof, said pump assembly being adapted to pump water from the open lower end of the said one vertical passage through said transverse passage to the other of said vertical passages; a deflector assembly; means for removably fitting said deflector assembly into said other of the vertical passages from the upper end thereof, said deflector assembly being adapted to impart a horizontal component of motion in a selected direction to water emerging from the lower end of the said other vertical passage under the influence of the pump assembly, the pump assembly and the deflector assembly each including a stator adapted to be slidably fitted in the corresponding vertical passage and a rotor mounted for rotation in the stator, whereby the pump assembly and the deflector assembly can each be removed from their respective vertical passages independently of the other from the top of the housing.
 2. A thruster unit according to claim 1, in which said housing hull mounting means includes a mounting plate integral with said housing, said plate being adapted to be fitted into a corresponding hole in the bottom of the hull of a ship.
 3. A thruster unit according to claim 1, in which the stators of the pump assembly and of the deflector assembly each include curved guide plates for turnIng the flow of water between its respective vertical passage and the transverse passage without excessive energy losses.
 4. A thruster unit for a ship which comprises: a mounting plate adapted to be fitted into a corresponding hole in the bottom of the hull of a ship; a unitary housing integral with the mounting plate, the housing defining two, side by side vertical cylindrical passages having open lower and upper ends and a transverse passage joining the two passages adjacent their upper ends; pump means removably fitted into one of the vertical passages so as to be removable through the upper end thereof; drive means for the pump means, said pump drive means being positioned above the upper end of said pump passage; deflector means removable fitted into the other of the vertical passages so as to be removable through the upper end thereof, and drive means for the deflector means, said deflector drive means being positioned above the upper end of said deflector passage, whereby water may be pumped by said pump means from the lower end of the said one passage through the transverse passage to the deflector means, the deflector means serving to impart to the water emerging therefrom a horizontal component of motion in a selected direction.
 5. A thruster unit according to claim 4, in which the pump means comprises: a stator adapted to be slidably fitted in the said one vertical passage; curved guide plates for turning water between the said one vertical passage and the transverse passage without excessive losses; and a rotor mounted for rotation in the stator.
 6. A thruster unit according to claim 4, in which the deflector means comprises: a stator adapted to be slidably fitted in the other said vertical passage; curved guide plates for turning water between the transverse passage and the other said vertical passage without excessive losses; and a rotor mounted for rotation in the stator. 